Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Osorio Named New Fire Head Coach

Juan Carlos Osorio was named the Chicago Fire's third head coach in team history yesterday. There has been some discussion in the local media (what little discussion that might be) that Dave Sarachan was unfairly released because he was 1-hampered by injuries and call ups, 2-had a winning record over four years, and 3-he was a nice guy. The third point is definetly true by all accounts. Sarachan was a very nice guy, also probably a decent coach but the time had come for the Fire organization to look for someone that inspired a sense of urgency and discipline in the team. The Fire appeared comfortable with losing due to the litany of reasons that Sarachan was more than happy to point out after every game. It seemed that the team's game plan in most matches was to get ahead with an early goal and hold on for dear life or simply play for one point if they were down or tied.

Quite simply, Sarachan was released because he was doing a bad job and there seemed to be no real idea on how to improve the team while waiting for Chris Rolfe to return from injury and Justin Mapp and Cuauhtemoc Blanco to arrive from international duty. Here's an article by ESPN cardboard cut-out Allen Hopkins.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns...ot=mls&cc=5901
It was time for a change, and John Guppy made the right move this time by upgrading the Fire's coaching staff.

Here's to hoping that Osorio can explain to Chad Barrett what the offside rule is !

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